Door for jails or prisons



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. H. BROWN.

DOOR FOR JAILS 0R PRISONS.

No. 353,662. Patented Dec. '7, 1886.

Fi l.

WITNESSES. 1.7V VENT 0R.

I PETERS, PhMo-Lllhognlpllcr. Wnhinglon. D. C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. H. BROWN.

DOOR FOR JAILS 0R PRISONS.

No. 353,662. Patented Dec. 7, 1886.

n PETERi PhmoLilhizyzpher. mamm. I310 (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

W. H. BROWN.

DOOR FOR JAILS 0R PRISONS.

No. 353,662. Patented Dec. 7, 1886.

F g. 3. /B

J) a z E e ma I Ii) 1'' 1).? E I&

zkz

WITNESSES.

@511. [l /y m, 75 mm,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. BBOVVN, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES H. SPARKS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DOOR FOR JAILS OR PRISONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 353,662, dated December 7, 1886.

Application tiled August 5, 1886. Serial No. 210,050. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. BROWN, of the city of Indianapolis, county ofMarion, and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors for Jails or Prisons, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my said invention is to provide a door for jails or prisons which may be [0 operated from outside another door or grating, whereby the keeper may be enabled to open and close the cells without coming in contact with the prisoners. This object is accomplished by mounting the cell-door upon bars which extend through openings above and below the outer door, or through the grating,and pivoted at said points where they pass through, and are provided with handles for operating and means of fastening outside of said outer 2o door or grating.

My present invention was originally devised to be used in connection with that class of jails or prisons shown and described in Letters Patent No. 244,358, dated July 12, 1881. granted upon the application of myself and Benjamin F. Haugh, jointly; but I do not desire to limit myself in this particular, as the door is also applicable to jails or prisons of other constructions.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view through a jail or prison of the character shown 5 and described in said Letters Patent, when provided with my improved door, and showing the said jail or prison in general plan; Fig. 2, a similar section, on an enlarged scale, of my said door and the immediately adjacent 0 parts, as seen from the dotted line 2 2 in Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a central vertical section through said door, looking toward the right from the dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 a detail perspective view of the upper portion of the doors, and showing the operating and fastening devices of my improved door more clearly.

In said drawings, the portions marked A represent the outer walls of the jail or prison; B, a corridor extending around within said walls, between them and the cell structure; 0, heavy grating surrounding the cell structure;

D, said cell structure; E, my improved door, and F the outer or vestibule door, from outside of which my improved door maybe operated.

The general construction shown, as before 5 stated, is similar to that shown and described in the Letters Patent N 0. 244,358, but may be of any desired construction,although I regard my invention as more particularly valuable with the one illustrated.

The front portion of the corridor B', or that portion next the door-opening in the grating C, I have shown as cut off and formed into a vestibule, or rather a double vestibule, by means of gratingpartitions B, B", and B In the last-menti0ned partition is located the door F, from behind which, or from behindthe said grating, the keeper, standing in the outer vestibule, may operate the door embodying my invention. Doors 11 I) lead from the inner ves- 7o tibule to the main corridor B.

In the grating 0, whether of the illustrated or other form, is a door-opening. In the construction of prison shown there is but one door-opening; but in ordinary prisons having stationary cells there would be a dooropening to each cell, as usual.

My improved door is in the form of a segment of a circle, and has two bars, E E one of which extends out through underneath the outer or vestibule door, F, and the other similarly extends out above said door, being piv- 'oted at the bottom and topt-o the frame of said door by pivots e, as shown. Of course the door F might be placed to one side, and the bars E and E might extend through appropriate openings in the grating B instead of above and below this door,if de= sired. Upon the outer portion of the lower bar, E of the door E is a hinged catch, 6, which is adapted to engage with notches in the floor, or a catch-bar therein. The upper bar may be similarly constructed; or, as shown, (and as is preferable,) it may have a pivoted catch, e, which passes down through a hole 9 therein, and a hole in the segmental bar I)", where it may be secured by alock, E

- It will be seen by an examination of Fig. 2, (in which the open positions of my door are shown by means of dotted lines,) that the keeper, standing in the outer vestibule behind the vestibule-door F, or grating B, can see not fore, by leaving one or the other of said doors open, and then by standing behind the closed vestibule-door, operate my improved door E in such a manner as to direct the movements of each prisoner separately, without coming in contact with any of them, each cell, in case the construction illustrated is used, being brought in front of the door-opening in the grating Gbefore the door E is opened, and, in case the ordinary non-movable construction is used, a similar arrangement of 'vestibules, in connection with the cells provided with this door, would give the same result.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is a 1. The combination, with the door-opening of a jail or prison, of a vestibule or space adjacent thereto -and a door to said opening, mounted upon pivotedbars extending out into said vestibule, whereby it can be operated from said vestibule, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a jail or prison, of the cell structure, a vestibule adjacent thereto, a door leading from the vestibule into the space or corridor in front of the cell structure, and

a door mounted upon bars pivoted in the dooropening for said vestibule-door, and adapted to close the door of the cell, said pivoted door being thus adapted to be operated from outside said ve stibule-door, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a jail or prison, of a vestibule, a vestibule-door,acell structure having appropriate door-opening, and a cell-door mounted upon pivoted bars and having appropriate operating and fastening devices outside said vestibule-door, substantially as set forth.

4. The Y combination of the grating O, the

dooropening therein, the grating E the door F therein, and the door E, having bars E and E, which extend to outside the door F, and are mounted on pivots, whereby the door E can be operated to open or close the door-opening in the grating C.

5. The combinatio'n,with a door-opening, of a door mounted onpivoted bars, which bars extend to outside another door or grating,

from where, through said bars, said door may be operated.

6. The combination of the door E, pivoted bars therefor, a hinged catch on the end of one or both said bars, and means for securing such catch. y

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 3lst"day of July, A. D. 1886.

WILLIAM'H. BROWN. [1,. 8.] 

